The present invention concerns an apparatus for the coating of substrates in a vacuum with a rotatable substrate carrier with at least one coating station and with one loading and unloading station.
A cathode sputtering unit for the coating of substrates in a vacuum chamber is known (German DE 39 12 295), in which a rotating substrate carrier is accommodated, with at least one cathode station, one loading station and unloading station. The substrate carrier includes at least one transport ladle, and the transport ladle comprises a substrate holder, which can preferably be moved in the direction of the axis of the cathode station, or of the loading station, or of the unloading station. The transport ladle is formed from a substrate holder, which is preferably designed in the form of a circular disk, and an arm, which is designed and arranged so that the holder is always oriented parallel to the parts it interacts with during its movement, such as parts of the sputtering cathode, parts of the loading station and parts of the unloading station.
For one or more transport ladles, a drive apparatus is provided that is centered with regard to the cathode sputtering unit, and that further transports the transport ladle, at a certain angle, stepwise in the vacuum chamber of the cathode sputtering unit. The vacuum chamber of the cathode sputtering unit is placed vertical and the transport ladle, or the transport ladles, rotate around a horizontally arranged axis.
This known cathode sputtering unit is particularly suitable for the coating of flat data carriers with the shape of circular disks, which are provided with several thin layers in a vacuum chamber, wherein all layers are applied by means of a sputtering process.
Furthermore, an apparatus is known for the introduction and removal of an essentially flat workpiece into an evacuated coating chamber and for the supply and return of the workpiece into and out of the area of a coating source for the purpose of treating the workpiece surface (German DOS 37 16 498), wherein a coating apparatus located in the area of the coating chamber is provided with one or more cover-shaped workpiece carriers, which help to position the workpieces adjacent to an opening of the coating chamber. This opening can be closed, on the one hand, by the workpiece carrier and on the other hand, by a lifting plate, which is maintained and guided on a rotary plate that can pivot within the coating chamber, wherein the workpiece carrier can be pressed to the opening in the cover of the coating chamber by a lifting cylinder supported on the coating apparatus, and the lifting plate by a lifting device affixed to the bottom plate.
Also, this known apparatus is provided only for a coating with the aid of sputtering cathodes.
Furthermore, a clean space with a conveying device, which transports transport containers from one processing station to the next, is known (German DE 36 03 538), with the following features:
the clean space can be completely encapsulated; PA1 at least one supply and removal device transfers the carrier, via an air lock, into the work area of the conveying device and removes it via an air lock; PA1 the conveying device has a carrier arm that can rotate around an axis; and PA1 the processing stations are located in a swivel area of the carrier arm, wherein the supply and removal device has at least one rotating disk with a shield between the transport containers.
Finally, an optical lens made of a transparent plastic and a first layer made of SiO directly on the substrate is known (German DE 44 30 363), wherein the second layer is made of borosilicate glass with a refractive value of 1.47 (lambda 55 nm) and has a thickness of up to 3 i, preferably 2550 nm, and the layers three to seven are formed from TiO.sub.3, SiO.sub.2, Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 for the purpose of an antireflection effect. The apparatus for the production of the thin layers on the plastic line has a plasma source opposite the plastic substrate, at least one evaporator, in addition to the plasma source, and at least one ring magnet above the substrate.
It is therefore and object of the present invention to provide layers to, in particular, spherically shaped substrates, for example, eyeglasses, in one continuous process, and to apply these layers with a particularly high degree of layer thickness uniformity by means of various types of coating sources.